Champagne sales dip by 15% in UK

Champagne sales in the UK dropped by around five million bottles in 2009.

The fall represented a 15% decline in sales, with 30.52 million bottles imported, according to the Champagne Bureau.

The UK remains the largest export market for the drink but sales now sit at levels last seen in 2002.

The fall was not as severe as the 40% that some had predicted, according to the BBC.

And UK customers have still consumed as much of the drink as the US, Germany and Belgium put together.

Last month, France said that its overall exports of champagne had fallen by 28% to €1.6b last year.